IC output to grow more than 9%

Staff writer, with CNA

Fri, Feb 22, 2013 - Page 14

The production value of the nation’s integrated circuit (IC) sector is expected to grow more than 9 percent this year from a year earlier on the back of a recovering global economy, according to a government report released on Wednesday.

The report said that although the global IC industry is faced with inventory adjustments in the first quarter of this year, demand is expected to stage a rebound and lead to growth in the following two quarters, which would boost the output of the nation’s IC sector for the whole of the year.

Production value of the local semiconductor sector is expected to be NT$1.786 trillion (US$60.54 billion) this year, up 9.3 percent from the NT$1.634 trillion recorded last year, the Industry and Technology Intelligence Services (ITIS) report said.

ITIS, a research institute of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said that due to an improvement in global economic fundamentals, demand for high-tech devices such as smartphones and tablets is expected to increase, which could raise IC sales.

The research institute said output of the IC design segment this year is expected to grow 9.5 percent from last year to NT$450.7 billion, while the production values of the IC packaging and testing sectors are expected to increase by 9 percent and 9.5 percent respectively to NT$296.5 billion and NT$133 billion.

The report said the output of the IC manufacturing segment, which is comprised of wafer foundry businesses and memorychip businesses, is expected to rise 9.2 percent this year from a year earlier to NT$905.4 billion.

During the first quarter, as global IC businesses are affected by the traditionally quiet season, output is expected to fall 5.4 percent from the fourth quarter of last year to NT$392.6 billion, ITIS said.

In the first quarter, output of the IC packaging segment is expected to fall 11.4 percent from a quarter earlier to NT$62 billion, while production value of the IC testing segment is likely to decline 10.5 percent to NT$28 billion, it said.

In the three-month period, output of the IC manufacturing sector is forecast to drop 2.6 percent from a quarter earlier to NT$201 billion, while production value of the IC design sector is expected to fall 5.5 percent to NT$101.6 billion.